After leaving Pack Forest, I had a couple of days to see some of Washington with my rental wheels. First stop? A cider mill! With it being autumn, I knew if I could find one, I absolutely needed to go. Alaska’s great, but there are no cider mills with hay rides, pumpkins, fresh cider, or fresh cider donuts. 🙁 Lattin’s Country Cider Mill fit the bill and cheered me up as my Spartans fell to the obnoxious Wolverines that day. Let’s just remember who won or lost their bowl game this year, shall we?

From the mill I carried on up to Olympia, where I stayed a night before heading west to the coast. Other than a stint in the SeaTac/Gig Harbor area, I hadn’t been to Washington for travel, and as much as I wanted to go everywhere, higher rental rates for sub-25ers killed off that idea. Having heard about the Olympic coast from a former field coworker, heading out to Kalaloch seemed like a reasonable plan.

First I got sidetracked in Aberdeen, a town that seems to not have much going for it other than a rather unusual find: Sucher & Sons Star Wars Shop! Being on my usual do-as-I-please travel schedule, I had to stop in honor of my brother and for my own curiosity’s sake. I’ve never been in such a trove of Star Wars collectibles! For anyone who’s an avid fan or even just intrigued, it’s worth checking out.

Beyond Aberdeen I headed north to Olympic National Park, and the trip made me feel like I was back in Shadowfax. No, I wasn’t driving on the left side of the road, but I was headed to a campsite to spend the night in my sleeping bag on my driver’s seat. I underestimated the length of the drive, which left me with less time for exploration. Luckily I did still manage some photography and detours off the main road, and that’s what matters!



Solo car camping may be becoming one of my favorite activities. It’s not that I don’t like people… it’s just that I prefer having fewer people around. When car camping, you can say hello to your neighbors – or not. You can cook up tasty meals or stick to the cereal, sandwich, and cider basics. You can crawl out of your sleeping bag and start driving whenever you want. You can walk to the bathroom building in your pajamas. You can hope the police won’t come and tell you you’re camping illegally. Err, right… I would never do that! 🙂 God bless freedom camping. (For the record, I did properly stay & pay at the Kalaloch campsite.)


Unfortunately all good car rentals must come to an end. Before long I was packing up the car and dropping my body bag in Gig Harbor and then carrying on to return the car at SeaTac. With still a week to go before heading down to Pack Forest for Conservation Canines training, it was time to play budget tourist in Seattle and finally try out Couchsurfing for the first time! Oh boy.